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I prefer the fp 80 because of price mainly and I don't mind the small speakers as the piano will be used only at home with headphones also it's smaller in size. Both these pianos are available in the Toronto area. I only tried the fp 50 and I couldn't determine if Roland fixed the buzzing sound found in many fp 7f's as there was too much noise in the showroom.

Unfortunately, as usual, the sound quality of the recording is not the best, but it does give an idea of the main features. Still no word on whether there is a new sample alongside the Concert Grand, or whether it's just variations on a theme.

As a side note, I was looking at the Casio PX-5S as a possible lightweight gigging board. I went into GC today to have another go on the PX-350, to see whether I might rethink whether the APs would work for me. While they are silky-smooth sounding and dynamic, I find the upper-mids a trifle annoying, and I noticed how jumpy the action/sound connection can be. I've decided to pass on the PX-5S (although I think that it offers a huge bang for the buck, if you need all the non-piano stuff), and I'm considering the new FPs. The FP-50 is nowhere near as lightweight as the Casio, and it misses a few nice features of the FP-80, but I'm thinking it could be a very versatile small gigs board, in the absence of anything competitive from Yamaha.

_________________________"you don't need to have been a rabbit in order to become a veterinarian"

Unfortunately, as usual, the sound quality of the recording is not the best, but it does give an idea of the main features. Still no word on whether there is a new sample alongside the Concert Grand, or whether it's just variations on a theme.

Well spotted Vox.

He says something like "12 acoustic piano sounds". Well, FP-7F has what, three? All the same piano. I reckon there's a healthy chance the Studio Grand - or something very like it - is onboard the FP-80. I like the look and spec of this thing. Another winner for Roland I expect.

It has more AP presets/ other preset names, but all based on the same sample-set as before. Perhaps some slight changes in programming of designer or EQ ? If it had the 'other' SN AP's I would have bought it, since I got a good price offer ! That's why I checked with several Roland reps and got the manual from inside to check myself. Sorry...

About the Casio ; yes for a piano it didn't do it for me either - not as sophisticated / subtle keybed to sound connection as with more expensive board. Keybed also has only three preset touch curves, neither worked for me personally for AP. Also the AP is good for gigging an rock / pop stuff , but for classical and delicate Jazz the upper halve is too much "pling pling" and audible looping in high notes, despite longer samples. PX5S is a very very nice board, but for pure AP it doesn't do it for me. For people searching for an all-round board with many nice sounds and features it's a no-brainer at this price...I almost pre-ordered it twice, meaning how tempting it is. If I'd needed something for a band, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. And that's also it's intended audience mostly, considering it's a lightweight stage piano / controller board.

That's disappointing, really. It is supposed to have 14 piano tones but I guess it will be one or two pianos, plus endless combinations of piano+something plus the unavoidable honky tonk which nobody ever uses. Sad. I find it hard to believe that company with so little innovative effort could have brought the V-Piano.

The "innovation " is in the speakers, adding SN Ep's (which they should have done in the first place on the FP7f) and gimmicks like AirPlay . If your using headphones or external speakers and are mainly interested in the action and AP, the FP80 is the same as the FP7f IMHO.

Thanks JFP. Odd that they wouldn't utilise the Studio Grand in other products although I guess it adds perceived value to the RD-700NX as an exclusive voice. That said, they make no claims in that regard so they haven't capitalised as they could have done in relation to a marketing advantage for the RD.

I know the quality of the audio is poor on the video but to be fair I don't hear so much of the metallic velocity transitions so maybe the pianos are tweaked slightly?

So, how much better are the speakers? The FP7's are rudimentary to say the least, giving the pianos a compressed, muffled and indistinct character in my opinion.

Got my fp 80 today. Very much like the fp 7f. Looks like the onboard recorder records only one layer. Also the headphone jack is standard 1/4 inch size. I still can hear a buzzing from a couple of areas of the keyboard but had no time to dicker with equalizer etc to try correcting. Xtra speakers sound noticeably better.

I went into GC today to have another go on the PX-350, to see whether I might rethink whether the APs would work for me. While they are silky-smooth sounding and dynamic, I find the upper-mids a trifle annoying...

I've noticed this too in the various on-line demos. Kind of "plinky" or something in the upper-mids.

I think it has something to do with the room or the position in the room. When I bought mine they took one out of stock for me to test as they only had the fp 50 displayed. The fp 80 sounded very good in the store.

- How is the new onboard speaker configuration performing ? Is it really good, or do you still require external monitors ?- How is the keybed - same thumpy-ness as the FP7F / RD700NX ? Perhaps less keynoise / bottoming out due to slightly other cabinet ?- Any improvement / change in SN AP sound(s) ?!

Those are the most important parts of the FP-80 I'm very curious about.

Sorry JFP, from your previous post I assumed you had played the FP-80 - when you say categorically that the Studio Grand is not onboard. But now you're asking if there's "any improvement/change in SN AP sounds". So you don't actually know the Studio Grand is not on it? It may not be called that but that voice - or something related to it - may be onboard. None of us know yet it would appear.

Sorry JFP, from your previous post I assumed you had played the FP-80 - when you say categorically that the Studio Grand is not onboard. But now you're asking if there's "any improvement/change in SN AP sounds". So you don't actually know the Studio Grand is not on it? It may not be called that but that voice - or something related to it - may be onboard. None of us know yet it would appear.

I know it's not on board -> I checked that out with several Roland Reps, People from a Roland dealer and from the Manual - before it was out in the shops, or the manual online. All indicated that the SN AP sounds was NOT extended with the Studio or Brilliant. If the Studio WAS indeed in teh FP-80 , I would have the FP-80 right now under my hands (local stock arrived yesterday).

What I am curious about however is if the basic SN sounds - presumably based on the same samples as on the FP7F - have been improved somewhat in one way or another. Also if the keybed is slightly less thumpy. If both are noticeably better than before, I might put the FP back on my shortlist again, despite the absence of Studio Grand.

For my situation (at home)the onboard speakers are great. I tried the other piano sounds and I was impressed with them although I don't recall their names since I use mostly Grand piano. I love the keyboard. If I have one complaint it's a kind of distortion that I heard only once or twice. Similar to the fp-7f I had which I returned. As I said I have not as yet tackled that, it could be room placement , equalizer, etc. The piano in-store did not have this problem. I bought it at Long And Mcquaid's in the Toronto area for $1960.

- How is the new onboard speaker configuration performing ? Is it really good, or do you still require external monitors ?- How is the keybed - same thumpy-ness as the FP7F / RD700NX ? Perhaps less keynoise / bottoming out due to slightly other cabinet ?- Any improvement / change in SN AP sound(s) ?!

Those are the most important parts of the FP-80 I'm very curious about.

I subscribe to JFP's questions. Free-thinker - could you tell us more about the piano, especially the points listed above? If you could post some (solo piano) recording, it would be icing on the cake:-)

- How is the new onboard speaker configuration performing ? Is it really good, or do you still require external monitors ?- How is the keybed - same thumpy-ness as the FP7F / RD700NX ? Perhaps less keynoise / bottoming out due to slightly other cabinet ?- Any improvement / change in SN AP sound(s) ?!

Those are the most important parts of the FP-80 I'm very curious about.

I subscribe to JFP's questions. Free-thinker - could you tell us more about the piano, especially the points listed above? If you could post some (solo piano) recording, it would be icing on the cake:-)

I subscribe to this petition too :D, because I am between this one and a Kawai ES7 (if I can find one here in México)

Hi, IMO the speakers are at least 50% louder than the fp-7f and are louder than the es7 which I returned Sunday. I liked the es7 but the sound was too mellow for my taste and it didn't have many sounds or any drum kits . I will never need external speakers for the fp-80 as they are plenty loud for just using in large room at home.I never tried the rd700nx but I believe the keyboard is the same as the fp-7f which I liked anyways especially after spending 45min at the store using various keyboards. Yes there is thumping when pressing keys when powered off if that's what you mean.As far as the SN ap sounds on the fp-80 I like them and find most of them realistic but can't give you a definite answer because I rarely used them on the fp-7f to compare the two.the first 3 pianos are very good-- 1-concert piano, 2-balladepiano, 3-bright piano also 10- comp piano.the others ; dreamy piano, piano + ep, piano + strings, piano + pad, piano + choir, magical piano, rock piano, ragtime, harpsichord, coupled hps -- some seem a little gimmicky and I doubt I will use them much.I hope that helps but there is nothing like going down there and trying them out for yourself since it is a very personal thing. For instance the es7 I returned was too mellow almost hollowed-out sounding for me and prefer the fp=80 even though I may never resolve the twangy noise at d# 3 and the 2 adjacent notes.By the way Oscar, where are you in Mexico? Just got back from a great 3 weeks in Puerto Vallarta.

Thank you free thinker! It seems to me that after years of hard work on the most realistic piano samples, their names have been perfected. Or am I just too cynical?:-) Anyway, glad that you are happy with the piano, I believe that it is pretty good board.

You mean totally distorted ?! I assume you're being cynical. About SN : if they got it right (or almost right) in the first place, then why would the same sound 2 years later suddenly be completely outdated.

Kurzweil milked their triple for , what...about 20 years ? And it's still on current boards. Yamaha seems to be in recycling mode as well, and Korg doesn't seem to get that smoothing effects like string resonance, unnoticable layer switching are also part of the job, apart from long samples. Casio has larger sample ram, but uses the same piano sample as before, just longer. I would have liked to see an enhanced SN version 2 from Roland as well, but even without the SN is still one of the better sounding DP sounds out there. Apart from SW Piano's of course.

Funny thing is no-one has still any idea yet if the SN AP is 100% exactly the same as in the FP7f, or that Roland introduced indeed some slight improvements. And then I don't mean only in the preset naming...Edit: we'll one thing I found is that the FP-80 has soundboard behavior modeling, whereas the FP7f has not.

I hardly believe that the ES7 is more "mellow" than any Roland. No way, unless you were talking about the upper octaves, those so-called metallic.In fact, the main characteristic of the Rolands is their sweet and deep low register.Isn't it?